• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Betting Offers UK

Best Free Bets & Casino Sign Up Offers For 2022

  • Betting Offers
  • Free Bets
  • Casino Bonuses
  • Home
  • New Sites
  • Free Spins
  • Free Bet Clubs
  • Bookies
  • Football
    • Premier League
  • Horse Racing
    • Cheltenham Festival
      • Disruptions & Cancellations
      • Old Course v New Course
      • Prestbury Cup
      • Top Trainers
      • Top Jockeys
      • Amateur Races
    • Grand National
      • Picking a Winner
      • Grand National Winners
      • Grand National Fences
      • Disruptions & Cancellations
      • Back to Back Winners
      • How Often Does the Favourite Win?
      • Prize Money
      • Virtual Grand National
      • Grand National Sponsors
      • Reserve Horses
      • How Many Finish
      • How Many Run
      • Grey Horses
      • Popularity
      • Amateur Jockeys
  • Irish Lottery
  • Blog

The World’s Most Politically Charged Football Derbies

18 October, 2019

Football with Fire and Water and Electricity on a Blue and Red backgroundIt doesn’t matter what level of the game you’re at, from the village green to the Nou Camp, the fiercest rivalries are those where there is more than just three points on the line.

It can be a battle for local bragging rights that gets the juices flowing, or there can be more political factors at play which explain why two teams are so desperate to get the better of the other.

And, of course when you combine both of those factors you are in for a rollicking spectacle!

That was certainly the case in October when North and South Korea met in a World Cup qualifier in Pyongyang.

Such is the ill-feeling between the two nations – they are still technically at war, despite peace efforts – that no fans were allowed to attend for security reasons, with players on both teams afterwards describing the bruising encounter as ‘like a war’.

Politics, and geographical spite, will always help to add spice to the beautiful game, so here’s a rundown of some of the most acrimonious rivalries in world football.

South Korea vs North Korea (2019)

North and South Korea Boxing Gloves

These two countries, despite sharing a land mass, could not be any more different.

The North remains under dictatorial rule, with some of the laws implemented by leader Kim Jong-un enough to make your hair curl. Hopefully he’s not reading this!

The South, on the other hand, is far more Westernised, and a lot more liberal as a result.

When the two philosophies collide it tends to be dramatic and violent, and threat of an outbreak of a Korean war is rarely far from the thoughts of all of those native to the country.

From a football perspective, there hasn’t been too much to write about, with October’s clash one of the rare occasions they have met. Their previous encounter came in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, in which the North claimed that the South had deliberately given their players food poisoning ahead of the second leg.

These contests are always an amazing spectacle; not that we got to see October’s clash because all media – aside from a broadcaster approved by Kim Jong-un – was banned. The resulting footage was also said to be of too low a quality to be shared.

The ‘war’ theme was used by a number of the South Korean players after the game, with Tottenham’s Son-Heung-min claiming ‘to be honest, the game was so tough that I think we were very lucky already to be back with no one injured.’ The South Korean footballing authorities have since complained to the Asian Football Confederation about the North’s antics.

USA vs Iran (1998)

USA and Iran Flags on a Cracked Wall

The ‘mother of all games’ – that’s how the head of the US Soccer Federation described the draw for World Cup ’98 in France which had paired the Americans against long-term enemy Iran.

These to nations haven’t got along since the 1970s and the days of the Iranian revolution, which ousted US-led forces from power.

The game promised to be a ‘lively’ affair, and the diplomatic mind games started before a ball had even been kicked with Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei refused to allow his players to walk towards the Americans for the pre-match handshake – negotiations with FIFA eventually led to the US team walking along the Iran line for the customary greeting.

The match itself was a full-blooded encounter, naturally, with Iran upsetting the odds to claim their first ever win in a World Cup game.

That led to incredible celebrations both inside the stadium and back home.

“People were dancing in the streets of Tehran, openly drinking alcohol and the women took off their head scarves. The Revolutionary Guard didn’t do anything about it because they were also so happy,” so told Mehrdad Masoudi, the Iran team’s official FIFA media officer, to Four Four Two magazine.

With relations between the two countries hardly improving since Donald Trump took charge of the White House, the next USA vs Iran meeting is likely to be just as highly anticipated.

Barcelona vs Real Madrid (1943)

Catalan And Spanish Flags in Stone

These two have dominated Spanish football for a long time now, and so their encounters have spice added given that they will largely determine who goes on to win the La Liga title.

But the hatred between Barcelona and Real Madrid runs much deeper than just three points, and you have to go back to the days of General Franco to see why.

Real have been the preferred team of the Spanish establishment for decades – especially King Alfonso XIII and the despotic former Spanish ruler General Franco, who was known to be a fan of the team we now know as the Galacticos.

As for Barca, this is a club with an ideology of polar opposites. Barcelona can be found in the heart of the Catalan region, who have long wanted independence from the rest of Spain – a matter you can’t help but have seen in the international press of late with arrests and riots once again taking place.

Franco wanted a uniform state in Spain, and refused to even acknowledge Catalunya – outlawing the speaking of the Catalonian and Basque languages and forcing Barcelona to remove the famous yellow-and-red colouring from their badge.

It all came to a head in 1943, when the two teams were drawn together in the Copa del Rey.

The game ended in an eyebrow-raising 11-1 win for the Madrid outfit, and it was only afterwards that it emerged that the Barcelona players had allegedly been threatened by police and political figures, essentially forcing them to throw the game. It was here that the seeds of hatred were sown.

For such a football-mad country, it’s no surprise that these political machinations often find their way onto the pitch, and few matches in the world game serve up a white-hot atmosphere quite like El Clasico.

East Germany vs West Germany (1974)

Section of the Berlin Wall

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Germany was left a country divided – quite literally into East and West – until the symbolic felling of the Berlin wall many decades later.

The divide was one on political and ideological grounds, and the two dissident groups had a hatred that ultimately led to bloodshed.

On the football pitch, West Germany were the better side and their name would appear on the trophy many times before the country was reunited in the early 1990s as plain old Germany.

They were drawn together in the group phase of the 1974 World Cup, held in the West no less, and no prisoners taken as players from both teams launched into the kinds of tackle that would make Joey Barton blush.

In the end, the East reigned supreme – a rare shock victory for the weaker nation. In the end, the West would go on to lift the trophy to have the most ultimate of last laughs.

Portugal vs Angola (2001)

Portugal and Angola Flags Against Cloudy Sky

This was always going to descend into chaos given how the two countries have interacted in the past five hundred years or so.

Portugal had ruled over Angola since the 1500s, but the Angolans – sick of this imperialist rule – decided to go to war with their Portuguese masters in the 1970s.

The War of Independence ended in 1974 when a new regime was voted into power in Portugal, and they immediately handed independence to Angola and other Western African nations.

You might think that over the next 30 years or so, relations might have softened a little.

But not a bit of it. This 2001 friendly was one of the first times the two countries had met since independence was granted, and the bad blood was evident from the first whistle.

In the end, the game had to be abandoned after 67 minutes when an Angolan player picked up an injury. They had already had four men sent off and used all of their substitutions.

Previous Post: « Golf’s EurAsia Cup and Why It Has Been Dropped from the 2020 Schedule
Next Post: The Hundred 2020 Draft: Who Got Who as Cricket Makes British Sporting History »

Primary Sidebar

Blog

Rugby Player Being Tackled
What Is a High Tackle In Rugby and How are the Rules Changing?
Football with Blank White Cards
What Is a White Card In Football?
Football Manager Holding Up Tactics Board
Do Football Clubs Always Improve When Appointing a New Manager?
Man in Suit Holding Traditional Football Under Arm
Who Is the Greatest Football Manager of All Time?
Anfield Gates
Is 2022/23 Liverpool's Worst Ever Premier League Season?
More Blog Posts | Full Archives

Archives

Betting Sign Up Offers

  • Free Bets
    • Bet £5 Get £20/£30+
    • Bet £10 Get £30/£40+
    • Casino Free Bets
  • Casino Bonuses
  • Free Spins

Loyalty Offers

  • Acca Bonuses
  • Acca Insurance
  • Best Odds Guaranteed
  • Free Bet Clubs
  • Loyalty Points

Major Events

  • Grand National
    • How to Pick the Grand National Winner
    • Grand National Winners
    • Grand National Fences
    • Prize Money
    • Disruptions & Cancellations
    • Back to Back Winners
    • How Often Does the Favourite Win?
    • What Is the Virtual Grand National?
    • Grand National Sponsors
    • Reserve Horses
    • How Many Horses Finish?
    • How Many Horses Run?
    • Most Successful Owners
    • Changes Over Time
    • Female Jockeys
    • Grey Horses in the Grand National
    • Amateur Jockeys
    • Popularity
  • Cheltenham Festival
    • Festival Disruptions & Cancellations
    • Old Course v New Course
    • The Prestbury Cup
    • Top Trainers
    • Top Jockeys
    • Amateur Races
  • Premier League
    • Without the Big Six?
  • Irish Lottery

Related Posts

  • What Is a White Card In Football?
  • Do Football Clubs Always Improve When Appointing a New Manager?
  • Who Is the Greatest Football Manager of All Time?
  • Is 2022/23 Liverpool's Worst Ever Premier League Season?
  • Which Teams Have Never Been Relegated from the Premier League?
  • Will Qatar Buy a British Football Club and Double-Down on World Cup 2022?
  • Are Juventus In Danger of Going Out of Business?
  • Can a Country Change the Football Governing Body They Play Under?
  • RIP Pele: The Football Great and Only Three-Time World Cup Winner
  • Varcical! Premier League Chiefs Admit 12 VAR Mistakes So Far During 2022/23 Season

Betting Blog

  • American Football
  • Athletics
  • Betting Industry
  • Boxing
  • Cricket
  • Darts
  • Football
  • General
  • Golf
  • Horse Racing
  • Motor Racing
  • Politics
  • Rugby
  • Snooker
  • Tennis
betting-sites.co.uk
gambling-sites.co.uk

Copyright © 2023 Betting-Offers.com | BeGambleAware.org 18+